Menu

Prompts

Contests

Stories

Blog

Menu

✕

CONNECT

Editing Design Marketing Publicity Ghostwriting Websites

BLOG

Success Stories

APPS

TOOLS

Book Promotion Sites Book Review Blogs Booktube Channel Guide Book Title Generator Character Name Generator Independent Publishers Literary Agents Literary Magazines Pen Name Generator Plot Generator Publishers Directory Short Story Ideas Writing Contests Writing Exercises Writing Scholarships

ABOUT

About Reedsy Terms Privacy

CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#232: Polar Night & Northern Lights

Winter solstice has come and gone here in the northern hemisphere and we’re slowly heading towards brighter days. Above the arctic circle, however, inhabitants will have to wait a bit longer to see the sun. There, polar night — where the sun doesn’t rise for months — still keeps its grip. Inhospitable as this may seem, entire communities have adapted to the long night, and the northern lights playing across the sky provide a reminder that light will eventually return.

This week's prompts are inspired by polar nights, human resilience, and, most of all, the glimmers of hope that make it all worthwhile.

This week's prompts

Set your story during polar night.

Winter – 37 stories

Write a story set in a world with a dying sun, or where light is a scarce resource.

Science Fiction – 65 stories

Write a story about someone witnessing — or trying to witness — a celestial phenomenon.

Adventure – 38 stories

Write a story about someone who has been tasked to keep a flame burning, surrounded by total darkness.

Character – 84 stories

Write a story about someone looking for a sign in a dark sky.

Angst – 56 stories

Stories

“Getty Y'up” by Tommy Goround

Submitted to Contest #232

For a hundred thousand million years, the people of Inuvik Canada have patiently endured the black of winter and been forced to love each other. They take census of all their blessings and give each other precious nicknames. Peter Amos is also called Peter-the-Drunk because the people of Inuvik can't believe he’s so happy. I once showed them our basket of recyclables and asked who was depleting the borscht wine while pointing in a whisper and nodding that it was probably the hippie Sitting on the top of the world, one could t...

Read story

“My Only Sunshine” by R S

Submitted to Contest #232

It was exhausting. Fighting wind and rain, sleet and snow, hail and fog day after day. Protecting the little spark that seemed constantly on the verge of fading away. “Don’t forget to leave before rush hour on your way home this weekend,” her father reminded her over the phone, “you know it turns a three hour drive into four and a half hours.” “Yes, Dad, I know. I just gotta make sure I time my work in the lab right. I told you my advisor gets upset when I leave early so I gotta make sure all my work is finished so he doesn’t have ...

Read story

“Keeper of the Flame” by Trudy Jas

Submitted to Contest #232

I am a failure.I am so utterly ashamed of myself. I want to hang my head. I want to cry. But I may not, I cannot, under no circumstance break posture. My job is to stand tall, smile and hold the flame.But I lost the flame.Even though it is shameful, so utterly shameful to stand here in the dark without a flame, I will not indulge in dramatic displays of distress. I will keep my dignity.My only salvation is that the little prince is not in residence. I fear that he would cry if he could not see me in the dark. For he always looks at me when h...

Read story

“Red Dog Poker Mornings” by Scott Christenson

Submitted to Contest #232

Within our tiny buzz of activity in the vast bleak landscape and never ending gloom of polar winter, I study my opponents. The four of them sit around the only table of the only bar in Red Dog. They’re each holding five cards. I could use a drink, but unfortunately the town went dry a long time ago—indigenous Alaskan territories often enact alcohol bans. But people still need to distract themselves. Tuesday mornings are poker “night” for the night shift. I sip my Coke Zero, longing for something stronger to numb the pain of last years b...

Read story

“Dusk to Dusk” by Ralph Aldrich

Submitted to Contest #232

It has taken three years to reach this shitball of clay. The mining company I work for had sent a rover in advance to look for precious ores. The report they received back from the rover was that the upper regions of the planet consisted primarily of nickel. It also reported that it found no forms of life. With that information under their belts, they assembled a crew of miners, of which I am one.The planet is RKT 607, and it circles a red dwarf sun. The planet rotates just enough to have a small amount of gravity bu...

Read story

“Northern Lights” by Eve Colabella

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #232

The taste of mint was stinging my mouth when you phoned me. We’d see them if we were quick, you said. I bundled layers over the top of my pyjamas and raced to your car. You were waiting with a spark in your eye, drumming your fingers on the wheel. In the darkness we felt forbidden, like children skipping curfew. I didn’t know where we were. I joked that now would be the perfect time for you to kill me if you wanted to. You laughed; you must really trust me. Our spot was vacant. Black pooled around us, disappearing into the dense tree line...

Read story

“Illuminance” by Malia Kao

Submitted to Contest #232

The digging call reverberated throughout the network of tunnels. Kitsi filled his lamp with the pieces of illuminance he had placed next to his resting pad and a dull red light emanated from it. It felt warm and comforting as he briefly held it against him. He carefully crawled out of the hole leading from his living quarters. Further into the tunnel, he saw the dim glow of the other lamps as they emerged from their holes. He skittered over to meet them as they began funneling to the assignment room. They flowed like a river of red down the ...

Read story

“The Northern Lights are not green.” by Emma Sinclair

Submitted to Contest #232

I’m sure I’m offending Scandi natives by even suggesting such a thing but… the Northern Lights are not green. At least from where I’m standing, at the northern-most tip of the Scottish mainland, they are not green. Rachel is most upset. The Northern Lights at Dunnet Head are grey. There is about 3 ft of land left between us and the sea. I couldn’t have brought her any closer to them without getting into a boat or a plane.“This is going to look awful on Instagram!” She pouts, as if somehow getting a photo to post online was of the utmost impo...

Read story

“The Perfect Shot” by Joshua G. J. Insole

Submitted to Contest #232

The first howl sliced through the evening like a fang through flesh.Cooper Elwine shivered. He knew there were local werewolves, but to have confirmation chilled him. He patted the Smith & Wesson in its holster. He’d loaded it with five silver-tipped cartridges. ‘In case,’ he murmured to himself.Overhead, the sky had begun to darken. The supermoon was on the horizon, in all its celestial glory. It glimpsed through the trees, poking its face out here and there as if in hiding.His heart trilled within its constraints of bone, trying to bre...

Read story

“Gifts from the East” by 𝔊𝔲𝔞𝔡𝔞𝔩𝔲𝔭𝔢 𝔗𝔢𝔩𝔠𝔬𝔫𝔱𝔞𝔯

Submitted to Contest #232

Content warning: Mentions of deathThe bustle of the city of Babylon was slowing as people retreated to their homes. Candles glowed and flickered in windows as breezes swirled the scents of the hanging gardens through the streets and up to the rooftops. Balthasar gazed up, watching the sky darken. The first stars were visible. Caspar, youngest of the trio, had not yet come to the roof, and Melchior was already sitting against the wall encircling the rooftop, dozing. He’s getting old, Balthasar thought wryly, glancing at the venerable gra...

Read story

“The Final Dance” by Molly Roth

Submitted to Contest #232

Trigger Warning: death, implied assault The flame flickers. In. Out. For a terrifying moment, it looks like it is about to be extinguished with a puff of smoke. You wrap your hands around it to guard it from the wind. The flame lights anew. The candle is almost a stub now. The wax has melted to become a mountain of cream, one barely visible in the pitch-darkness of the room. But the flame remains true. &...

Read story

“The Flame that Holds the Darkness at Bay” by Elisa Welch

Submitted to Contest #232

The monks of Imau Getan had been singing for 698 years, 9 moons and 17 days without pause. Had they stopped, or so they believed, a darkness like no other would enfold the world for a thousand years. Men would turn against friend and neighbor, cities would burn, nations would go to war for no reason other than to destroy one another. The monks’ song was a Lighthouse to the world. Their liturgy named it the Flame. And so the monks sang. Sometimes their ranks were hundreds, too many to fit in the unchangin...

Read story

“Bearing Light in Eternal Shadows” by Martha Muraglia

Submitted to Contest #232

The darkness was absolute, a thick, impenetrable shroud that wrapped around me like a second skin. It was as if the void itself had consumed every particle of light, leaving me with nothing but the sound of my own breath and the soft crackle of the flame in my hands. I clutched the torch tighter, feeling the warmth against the chill that seemed to seep from the shadows themselves. They called it the Eternal Flame, a beacon against the consuming abyss that stretched endlessly in all directions. My task, my burden, was to keep it burning, to s...

Read story

“Holes in My Memory” by Allan Bernal

Submitted to Contest #232

I finally understood the point of funerals. It’s the “moment of clarity” you wouldn’t expect to happen before dying. But I guess it helps that my death so far has been long and drawn out. Hours melted away like the wax on my candle, and the sun should’ve been beaming through the attic window by now. I’m still surrounded by darkness though, my legs painfully asleep, my eyes toasted from the light of my single candle, and my world cut down to just this small circle of salt around me. It’s just me and her now. Me and It. Almost ten years ag...

Read story

“Nighttime Heartbroken Souls” by Luna Lin

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #232

I looked out the living room window of our twelfth-storey apartment. The roads were no longer busy, only a handful of cars coming in from the direction of the highway. I wondered where they were headed at this hour; were they going home to an empty apartment, or were they going home to their families? And if so, would they have to tiptoe into the house? Would they be afraid of waking their spouses, for fear of inviting unwanted questions? It was, afterall, one in the morning. I checked my phone again, the fiftieth time in the last fifteen mi...

Read story

Load more stories

$250

Prize money

280

Contest entries

106

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Jan 12, 2024 EST

Won by Jonathan Page 🏆

Title: The Lantern of Kaamos

Submissions must be between 1,000 - 3,000 words and will be approved and published on Reedsy Prompts within 7 days of the contest closing.

Read the full terms & conditions or check out the FAQ if you have any questions!

Explore more writing prompt ideas:

Adults Writing Prompts ⭢

Adventure Writing Prompts ⭢

Angst Writing Prompts ⭢

Character Writing Prompts ⭢

Christmas Writing Prompts ⭢

Dark Writing Prompts ⭢

Dialogue Writing Prompts ⭢

Dramatic Writing Prompts ⭢

Dystopian Writing Prompts ⭢

Fall Writing Prompts ⭢

Fantasy Writing Prompts ⭢

Fiction Writing Prompts ⭢

Fluff Writing Prompts ⭢

Funny Writing Prompts ⭢

Halloween Writing Prompts ⭢

High School Writing Prompts ⭢

Historical Fiction Writing Prompts ⭢

Holiday Writing Prompts ⭢

Horror Writing Prompts ⭢

Kids Writing Prompts ⭢

Middle School Writing Prompts ⭢

Mystery Writing Prompts ⭢

Narrative Writing Prompts ⭢

Nonfiction Writing Prompts ⭢

Novel Writing Prompts ⭢

Poetry Writing Prompts ⭢

Romance Writing Prompts ⭢

Sad Writing Prompts ⭢

Science Fiction Writing Prompts ⭢

Short Story Writing Prompts ⭢

Spring Writing Prompts ⭢

Summer Writing Prompts ⭢

Teens Writing Prompts ⭢

Thanksgiving Writing Prompts ⭢

Thriller and Suspense Writing Prompts ⭢

Valentine's Day Writing Prompts ⭢

Vampire Writing Prompts ⭢

Winter Writing Prompts ⭢